A Coast Guard Academy cadet testified at his court-martial Monday that he had consensual sex with his on-again, off-again girlfriend on the night she says he raped her."I knew that she had been drinking but I didn't really think she was that drunk or anything," Cadet Webster Smith told the military jury.The case against the 23-year-old Houston man is the first court-martial of a student in the academy's 130-year history. Smith has pleaded not guilty to rape, sodomy, extortion and assault charges that stem from allegations made by the sometimes-girlfriend and three other female cadets.The woman who accused Smith of rape said she remembers nearly nothing about that night last June when she alleges Smith raped her. She says she drank as much as three liters of wine and passed out, then woke up the next morning and was told they'd had sex.Smith testified Monday that the sex that night was consensual.... http://www.usatoday.com

Farmers in west central Ohio are hoping to preserve some breeds of livestock considered endangered by conservationists. Jerome Kingery has milking Devon cows along with Leicester longwool sheep, Narragansett turkeys, Nankin bantam chickens and Dominique chickens on his farm north of Yellow Springs. Outside Fort Loramie, Leroy Meyer grazes about a dozen Dutch belted cows among his 60-cow herd. Both breeds of cattle are considered critical by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The nonprofit group based in Pittsboro, N.C., seeks to protect livestock and poultry from extinction. The ranking, the group's most serious in the livestock category, means there are fewer than 200 of the breed registered in the United States each year and it's estimated that fewer than 2,000 exist worldwide. ...http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2119440

The Iraqi prime minister's plan for national reconciliation came in for criticism from both sides of the sectarian divide on Monday, a day after parliament accepted a compromise strategy that is short on crucial detail. Iraq's most senior Sunni Arab politician, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, complained that the plan set no withdrawal date for U.S. occupying forces.He also said Shi'ite Islamist Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was wrong to rule out peace negotiations with hardline followers of Sunni former leader Saddam Hussein."Leaving the issue of a timetable (for U.S. withdrawal) vague," Hashemi told Reuters, "is telling the resistance: 'continue your fighting to liberate Iraq'."U.S. commanders are keen to leave but see withdrawal taking years yet with civil war a threat from various armed groups....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060626/ts_nm/iraq_dc

Thousands of doctors at municipal hospitals in Germany walked off the job Monday in a strike that follows a recent round of walkouts by their counterparts at university-run clinics. The Marburger Bund union said 7,500 doctors in four of Germany's 16 states walked out Monday. It plans to expand the strike later this week. The union, which has pledged to keep emergency care and children's clinics working, is pressing for higher pay and better working conditions for the roughly 70,000 doctors at municipal clinics. Employers say they cannot afford to meet the demands, among them a pay increase of up to 30 percent. They tried that in the USA a few years back, and the death rate went down. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2119384

Israel's prime minister has promised prolonged and extensive military action to free an Israeli soldier missing and presumed held captive in southern Gaza. "Let it be clear: We will reach everyone, no matter where," Ehud Olmert said in a speech in Jerusalem. An Egyptian team trying to secure the release of Cpl Gilad Shalit, 19, says it has made contact with his captors. No Israeli soldiers have been seized by Palestinian militants since 1994 and it is being seen as a crisis in Israel. Members of the Palestinian government, led by militant group Hamas, are continuing talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has condemned the soldier's capture. Hamas political leaders have denied any knowledge of the kidnapping but have called for the soldier's release unharmed....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5116768.stm

By night, the troops brace for Taliban mortar attacks. By day, they carry heavy gear and weapons over rocky ledges in scorching heat, stopping only to rehydrate, sometimes with the help of intravenous drips.Life with the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment in southern Afghanistan is a battle not only against a stealthy and stubborn enemy but against some of the earth's harshest natural elements."I am hungry, thirsty and dirty. Welcome to my world," said Sgt. 1st Class Gonzalo Lassally, 31, of Deltona, Fla.Lassally is among the scores of U.S. soldiers dug into a sun-bleached peak as part of Operation Mountain Thrust. It is the largest offensive against the Taliban since the government of that radical Islamic group was ousted nearly five years ago....http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/06/25/news/world/1cc3513e9ffe70a887257195007c5b2c.txt